Rembrandt, The Nightwatch (Part 1)

Rembrandt, The Nightwatch

Ravensburger, 1977

5040 pieces

40" x 60"

purchased sealed (complete) from ebay ($70)

Difficulty level: near impossible, probably the most difficult puzzle ever made?

So this the first 5000-piece puzzle, and it's one of my favorite paintings, making acquiring this one a no-brainer. It's a pretty common puzzle, so it wasn't so much finding a copy, but finding one at a price I was willing to pay.

After assembling (or trying to assemble) the frame and the brightest sections, this thing turns into a nightmare.

At this point I'm down to maybe a hundred pieces that aren't a shade of brown, and it looks like I've hardly completed anything. It appears that each quadrant of the puzzle is the same cut, which is helpful, and which I've used to slot a few pieces along the bottom. I still don't have the frame completed.

The problem now is I am having a tough time telling the shades of brown apart, as it's winter and it's well past dark by the time I have a few minutes to work on this. I think I am going to pack this one up for a while and wait for summer or maybe a better lighting solution. Definitely not giving up!

Maine Serenity

Maine Serenity

Milton Bradley, 1978, York Series #4

1540 pieces

31" x 23 1/2"

purchased sealed (complete) from ebay ($4.75)

Difficulty level: moderately difficult

MB Super Challenge Series: Magnolia Gardens, South Carolina

Magnolia Gardens, South Carolina

Milton Bradley, Super Challenge (1978) Series #3

1540 pieces

31" x 23 1/2"

purchased sealed (complete) from ebay ($9.25)

Difficulty level: super challenging

Easier than the other Super Challenge I completed last year, but that might also be due to familiarity with the unusual piece shapes and having a better plan of attack. Or it could be that MB Super Challenges got more difficult as the series went on--this is #3, the other I did was #12. There's one that's a sea of yellow flowers, and another that's a desert dune, which will certainly both be extremely difficult.

After the flowers and trees were mostly done, it got really tough. I dreaded doing the brown water so I just pulled out all those pieces and did that section first. What I like about this cut (90% of the pieces have one waved/curvy side that just abuts another piece, rather than locking in) is that when you get to these solid color or otherwise very difficult sections, you can line all the pieces up and eyeball which ones go with which--it's a nice trick to have to make some headway.

Fun puzzle; very nice-looking when completed. Will definitely pick up more of these Super Challenges as I find them sealed (and cheap!).

The Krypt

The Krypt

Ravensburger

654 pieces

20" x 27"

purchased new from Amazon ($14)

Difficulty level: Tough, but not nearly as tough as I was expecting

I got the border and beginnings of the inner circle assembled when I realized my sealed copy was missing FOUR pieces. Returned to Amazon for another copy, this one complete.

The border and the most central part of the circle are easy, as the central pieces are very obviously curved. The farther out you get, the less curved they appear.

There was a certain duplication in the way the pieces were arranged along the edges--not a repeating cut like with large Ravensburger puzzles, but just a similar arrangement, which helped knock out some of the edges.

I realized the pieces that were very large were part of the outer circle, so I pulled all them out and starting assembling bits of it. Once that started falling into place, the puzzle got much easier.

Then I just sorted the remaining pieces by shape and it was simple to finish.